Abstract
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 344 - 358 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journalism Studies |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2011 |
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Keywords
- british broadcasting corporation
- contextual objectivity
- war reporting
- human interest journalism
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Not one of U.S. Kate Adie's report of the 1986 US bombing of Tripoli and its critical aftermath. / Higgins, Michael; Smith, Angela.
In: Journalism Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, 01.06.2011, p. 344 - 358 .Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Not one of U.S.
T2 - Journalism Studies
AU - Higgins, Michael
AU - Smith, Angela
PY - 2011/6/1
Y1 - 2011/6/1
N2 - Although the professional activities of the war correspondent have commanded critical attention for much of the last century, discussion has intensified in recent years. This article seeks to place some of these debates within a longer-term perspective, by examining a broadcast by the BBC journalist Kate Adie, reporting on the US bombing of Tripoli in 1986: a broadcast that attracted widespread media and political hostility at the time, as well as prompting the governing Conservative Party to commission a report on perceived bias in BBC news reports. Using Adie's previously unavailable reporters' notebooks, as well as other contemporary material, the article examines the processes of drafting involved in the broadcast, including the discarded elements. The article outlines evidence of the configuration of human interest-driven news values for an environment of civilian injury and destruction, drawing upon a tradition of the war correspondent as “witness”. The article suggests that accusations of a lack of objectivity on Adie's part failed to account for the role of a particular set of interpretive conventions in reporting the bombing's aftermath, and such broadcasts may be more productively assessed within discussions of “contextual objectivity” in war reporting.
AB - Although the professional activities of the war correspondent have commanded critical attention for much of the last century, discussion has intensified in recent years. This article seeks to place some of these debates within a longer-term perspective, by examining a broadcast by the BBC journalist Kate Adie, reporting on the US bombing of Tripoli in 1986: a broadcast that attracted widespread media and political hostility at the time, as well as prompting the governing Conservative Party to commission a report on perceived bias in BBC news reports. Using Adie's previously unavailable reporters' notebooks, as well as other contemporary material, the article examines the processes of drafting involved in the broadcast, including the discarded elements. The article outlines evidence of the configuration of human interest-driven news values for an environment of civilian injury and destruction, drawing upon a tradition of the war correspondent as “witness”. The article suggests that accusations of a lack of objectivity on Adie's part failed to account for the role of a particular set of interpretive conventions in reporting the bombing's aftermath, and such broadcasts may be more productively assessed within discussions of “contextual objectivity” in war reporting.
KW - british broadcasting corporation
KW - contextual objectivity
KW - war reporting
KW - human interest journalism
U2 - 10.1080/1461670X.2010.504568
DO - 10.1080/1461670X.2010.504568
M3 - Article
VL - 12
SP - 344
EP - 358
JO - Journalism Studies
JF - Journalism Studies
SN - 1461-670X
IS - 3
ER -